Cheap web hosting comes at a cost. Going with iPage is no different. In this iPage hosting review, we go over the in’s and out’s of what iPage has to offer as well as our final verdict of whether you recommend them or not.
In summary: we do not recommend iPage. We have our reasoning for why we’ve come to this verdict. If you’d like alternatives, check out the bottom of the page.
What is iPage?
iPage is a web hosting company founded in 1998 by Thomas Gorny. Initially, the company was a full-service web service provider. However, iPage relaunched in 2009 as a web hosting provider.
The company has two data centers, with one still existing in their old stomping grounds of Massachusetts. However, the company’s current headquarters is in Tempe, Arizona.
They’re currently owned by Endurance International Group (EIG). This is important, as EIG owns many major service providers that include HostGator and BlueHost. EIG has a reputation for optimizing web host offerings, typically leading to a poor customer experience.
Is iPage Legit?
Would recommend if…
If you have a non-existent budget for your website, you’ll find that the shared hosting plans with less than six pages are great. You’ll find that $1.99 /mo is a price you’ll be paying for their cheapest plan.
Among cheap hosting providers, iPage is the most affordable.
Wouldn’t recommend if…
iPage isn’t great for people who are looking for security and speedy features. If you want to pay for iPage web hosting, their VPS and dedicated server plans are a bit better. Still, you’ll find yourself banging your head against the wall with customer service.
iPage Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 30-Day Money Back Guarantee | Slower Than Most Hosts |
| Free Domain Name for 1-Year | No Cloud Servers |
| Affordable Introductory Pricing | Weak Security |
| Unlimited Disk Space | No Shared Monthly Plans |
| Free Advertising Credits | No Free Trial for Website Builder |
| Unlimited Email (With Select Plans) | Poor Customer Service |
| 24/7 Customer Support (Chat & Phone) | No Automatic Backups |
| Unltd MySQL Databases (Higher Plans) | No Uptime Guarantee |
| Solid Website Builder | No Website Staging Area |
| VPS & Dedicated Include IP Addresses | No Custom Caching |
| History of Auto-renew Issues |
Pros
Unlimited Disk Space & Unlimited Email Addresses
Despite costing $1.99 /mo, iPage is one of the few cheap providers that offers unlimited disk space. iPage hosting is an odd combination of excellent and questionable features. You’ll find out more about that later in this review.
The basic version of their services comes with a single email address. However, advanced versions quickly jump up to enabling unlimited emails.
They also offer Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 email hosting services you can integrate with their website.
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Thankfully, iPage offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you don’t find yourself enjoying iPage’s services, you can easily choose to cancel them within 30 days without calling in.
The cancellation process is simple enough, allowing you to do this within the site. Other web hosting providers offer better money-back guarantees, but this is still an excellent feature to have.
Free Search Engine Ad Credits
iPage provides you a promo code via Google Ads to help you pay for advertising. It is excellent for hosting services that help their clients get off the ground.
iPage offers Bing credits as well, enabling you to try multiple search engines.
Unlimited MySQL Databases
For websites that keep large quantities of customer data around, iPage offers unlimited MySQL databases. This feature is handy for those who run multiple eCommerce storefronts.
Search Engine Optimization & Marketing Services
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a powerful tool that enables you to gain additional exposure for your website. iPage’s support team offers marketing and SEO services for an additional charge.
This feature makes iPage closer to full service hosting provider. However, these offerings aren’t as robust as other providers, which we will revisit later in the article.
Cons
No Cloud & Windows Servers
Smaller hosts typically skip Windows servers. Website owners who prefer web hosts who have Windows servers will find no help here.
Also, business owners will find that this company lacks cloud servers. The lack of cloud servers gives people fewer options. iPage is less suitable for those seeking specific pathways up. Cloud servers are typically the “happy middle” between those not quite ready for a VPS.
No Shared Monthly Price Plans
Those who prefer to pay per month for shared hosting will find that iPage doesn’t have anything available for them. The preferred price, $1.99 /mo, is only available to those willing to pay for three years upfront.
Even paying more is reserved for those who are willing to pay for a year. The $2.49 and $2.99 options are for two years and one year, respectively.
No Test Site (Site Staging)
It isn’t uncommon for web hosting companies not to include a test site. However, it’s still irritating for companies who have webmasters that like to test their website before publishing.
This might not be a problem for people who use WordPress hosting, as you can test your WordPress sites there. But those who use alternative options might not be able to test their website before publishing.
No Free Trial for Website Builder
Another shortcoming for iPage goes back to that website builder. While it is excellent, you won’t know without paying something upfront.
For users who want to demo the software, this can prevent people from wanting to gamble. While users get a 30-day money-back guarantee, many people prefer to run the test before throwing money.
iPage might want to reconsider its stance on free trials.
No Automatic Backups
Another significant shortcoming iPage does not address the lack of automatic backup. Even in iPage’s highest available tiers, automatic backup is not something they discuss.
It is hard to recommend iPage without some backup feature. Automatic backups take the problem out of your hands, giving it to the system.
If you use iPage, be sure to set a calendar reminder to establish a backup. If you forget, you might end up losing a lot of data.
No Custom Caching
Reading further down, you’ll likely notice that their speed is a bit slow. Some of this issue is probably related to the lack of custom caching.
Custom caching enables websites to store large chunks of custom data on visitor’s PCs. It results in less loading for regular visitors, rewarding the user’s return visit.
Asynchronous caching combined with a CDM (Content Delivery Manager) means speedy hosting. Other providers like SiteGround or HostGator address this.
Does iPage Have Good Performance?
To determine iPage’s performance, we ran three speed tests through:
- GTMetrix
- Pingdom
- Web.dev
The first test was through GTMetrix, which revealed a fully loaded time of 3.9 seconds:
As a hosting service this is a bit slower than most others, but it’s important to note that the page size is about 2.0 MB. The larger page size typically causes slower loading.
Pingdom’s speed test revealed better results:
Pingdom’s loading times were far more reasonable, sticking around 1.7 seconds. Compared to other’s this is a bit above average.
However, our Web.dev Lighthouse testing revealed something a bit less preferable:
With a speed index of 8.5 seconds, this is far too slow to maintain a good customer experience. People are more likely to jump ship at this loading speed.
When taking the average of these three, this is a page loading speed of 4.7 seconds. Compared to the averages of other hosts, this is pretty slow.
While you won’t lose all customers at this page speed, others do it better. We can also say the same regarding reliability. I wouldn’t run an eCommerce website with load times like this.
iPage – No Obvious UpTime Guarantee
iPage is one of those providers that does not offer any uptime guarantee. Other web hosting providers like SiteGround, BlueHost, HostGator, and almost anyone else provide something like this.
Thankfully, iPage isn’t known for being down, typically boasting uptime rates above 99%. However, the guarantee does offer some security to website owners.
iPage Security Features
Compared to other companies, iPage’s security section reads more like a pamphlet. They do not provide as much information on their security offerings.
You’ll find no mention of custom firewall information. However, they do offer a few handy security features:
SiteLock Security for Online Business
SiteLock is one of the most well-known website security companies in the world. They have four stars out of five on Trustpilot but are seeing a stint of negative experiences as of late. This is important, as SiteLock provides security services for iPage
iPage offers three different security plans through SiteLock:
- Essentials Plan: $3.99 per month.
- Prevent Plan: $14.99 /mo.
- Prevent Plus Plan: $24.99 /mo.
All three plans include the following:
- A daily malware scan
- Blacklist monitoring
- Blocking of automated bot attacks
- Automatic malware removal services
The Prevent Plan includes database scanning and a faster response time.
The Prevent Plus Plan includes these extra features:
- Continuous malware scanning
- PCI compliance scanning
- Website CMS vulnerability patching
PCI, or Payment Card Industry, compliance standards are necessary to run an eCommerce business securely.
CMS, or Content Management Systems, enable your website to load faster. Given that a third-party service handles the management, SiteLock can allow your company extra support for patching issues from a CMS.
Bear in mind that the monthly costs will require you to pay for one to three years upfront, much like iPage’s other services.
Free SSL Certificate
All of iPage’s inexpensive web hosting services come with a free SSL. This has become industry standard, so we won’t give too many points for providing this service.
An SSL, or Secure Socket Layer, is a necessary security measure for encrypting your client-server connections. Having them available for all levels of hosting options helps establish strong security early on.
Their basic free SSL does not come with any warranty. However, they offer three advanced features for an additional cost.
Domain Validated SSL, Wildcard SSL, & eCommerce SSL
For those seeking strong SSL services, iPage offers three options:
- Domain Validated SSL: $3.00 /mo for 24 mos ($3.33 /mo for one year)
- Wildcard SSL: $8 /mo (36 mos), $9 /mo (24 mos), $10 /mo (12 mos)
- eCommerce SSL: $22.50 /mo (24 mos), $25 /mo (12 mos)
Payments for these enhanced SSLs provide warranties at $10, $250, and $1,750 thousand, respectively. The Wildcard SSL enables you to protect multiple subdomains. The eCommerce has an additional green “trust bar” and a greater chance for product sales with the visual.
The additional security that comes with a domain-validated certificate enables you to validate your control of a domain with public information. With this security, your identity can be used to confirm ownership of a domain.
Wildcard SSLs are also domain-validated; the only difference is that Wildcard SSLs cover subdomains. What you need depends on whether or not your website includes subdomains or significant value.
iPage Customer Service
iPage offers 24/7 customer support through both live chat and a toll-free phone number. Their customer support team also enables you to share your screen with their tech support team.
To contact their customer service team, simply click the “help” button in the upper-right-hand corner. Their customer service representative connected within seconds.
I had a couple of pre-account questions that were answered pretty quickly.
While Arun was worth every star, it’s essential to take into account other user experiences.
iPage Reviews from Users
“There are many, many bad reviews on here on ipage, wow. I am leaving ipage after having been with them for nearly a decade – that’s a long time. I have experienced many challenges with them; but overall – I think they have been amazing to me. No, I am not affiliated with ipage – just a normal customer who is leaving ipage (due to company restructuring) saying farewell, and thank you for the many years of good experience for me.”
You’ll find that many people using iPage complain about the billing experiences:
“As anybody here I got the same experience with the auto renewal. The second year they charged me trough PayPal and I didn’t notice, than just in time before the auto renewal triggered again (3th year) I choose on my account to block it. Later I realized that they charged me anyway..”
Autorenewal issues appear to be a common problem for iPage customers as well as bad support:
“This is worst hosting company. very slow hosting, with amazing price and terrible support.”
It is clear that iPage needs to do some serious reputation management. The customer service team has their hands full, given the number of people complaining about their autorenewal features.
Is iPage Easy to Use?
iPage excels in offering a simple control panel that is easy to use. The simple interface is similar to that of GoDaddy or other significant services out there. In many ways, it is less of an eyesore compared to other major hosting providers.
Those who create a hosting account will find themselves enjoying the simple interface. Given they also make one-click WordPress install’s seamless.
This ease of use also applies to their website builder.
iPage Website Builder
The iPage site builder is simple and powerful. The support team behind this platform put a lot of effort into it, offering a solid amount of templates available.
Those who are beginners at design will enjoy the drag and drop features available on iPage. As a website owner, you know the importance of an appealing and straightforward design platform. Thankfully, this is one area that iPage is solid at.
Here’s a quick look at the editing platform:
So if you’re looking for a web hosting provider with excellent design options, iPage is excellent. This is the shining jewel of iPage’s offering. Other website builders could learn a thing or two.
iPage Pricing and Plans
Compared to other web hosts, iPage is a bit of an oddity. Where they don’t offer Windows or cloud servers, they offer a few alternatives.
iPage Shared Hosting Plans
IPage’s initial offering comes in one form: the Go Plan in a weird twist that deviates from other providers. The Go Plan comes in three payment options:
- $1.99 /mo. for 36 mos upfront
- $2.49 /mo. for 24 mos upfront
- $2.99 /mo. for 12 mos upfront
There are no monthly plans; you’re required to pay for at least one year upfront. The Go Plan is the only shared hosting option.
Features with the Go Plan include the following:
- Unlimited websites
- Unlimited storage
- One free SSL certificate
- One free domain name for a year
- A free standard email address
- Free access to the basic website builder
- 24/7 support
These shared plans do not include automatic backup to encourage people to pursue their better hosting options. You’ll also find the SSL certificate inadequate to meet eCommerce needs, despite this shared hosting plan being advertised as suitable for stores.
Smaller stores will want to seek better security options available from iPage if starting with this plan. Regardless of what the customer reviews might say, iPage’s shared hosting plans are easily some of the cheapest available.
iPage WordPress Hosting Plans
iPage’s WordPress hosting brings us back to some normalcy when it comes to options. iPage’s WordPress pricing comes in two forms:
- WP Starter Plan: $3.75 /mo.
- WP Essential Plan: $6.95 /mo.
The starter plan gives you these features:
- One website
- One free SSL certificate
- One free domain name
- Unlimited storage and bandwidth
- Pre-installed themes & plugins
The Essential Plan also includes unlimited websites, automatic malware removal, and SiteLock professional security.
You also get a custom firewall, making them more secure than the standard shared hosting plan.
iPage VPS Hosting Plans
iPage also includes VPS plans among its offerings. iPage offers three options:
- VPS Basic Plan: $19.99 /mo ($24.99 renewal price)
- VPS Business Plan: $47.99 /mo ($59.49 renewal price)
- VPS Optimum Plan: $79.99 /mo ($99.99 renewal price)
The pricing above assumes you’re going to be purchasing monthly. Compared to iPage’s shared hosting plan, this is a deviation from what iPage does typically. Additional discounts are applicable if you’re buying one or two years at once.
The Basic Plan comes with a one-core CPU, 1 GB of RAM, 40 GB of disk space, and 1 TB of bandwidth. You’ll also find that it comes with one IP address and a free year of domain registration.
The Business Plan has a two-core CPU, 4 GB of RAM, 90 GB of storage, and 3 TB of bandwidth. You also receive two IP addresses.
The Optimum Plan doubles the cores and RAM and four and eight, respectively. They also have 4 TB of bandwidth and all of the same features from the Business Plan.
iPage recommends the business plan for those new to its VPS services. All of them support using the CentOS 7 Linux operating system and have support for cPanel.
The cost of these plans is comparable to other web hosting companies. However, iPage’s introductory pricing is a bit weaker than some other companies in this case.
For example, BlueHost’s initial pricing for two cores is $29.99 /mo. However, they both renew at similar prices.
iPage Dedicated Hosting Plans
iPage also offers Linux-based server plans under a dedicated variety. They offer three different varieties of hosting:
- The Startup Plan: $119.99 /mo (renews at $149.99)
- The Professional Plan: $151.99 /mo (renews at $194.99)
- The Enterprise Plan: $191.99 /mo (renews at $239.99)
The Startup Plan is comparable to the Business Plan under the VPS hosting mentioned above. It has two cores and four gigs of RAM.
What makes it different is the 500 GB of disk space, 5 TB of bandwidth, and three IP addresses. The additional space is suitable for websites that need large quantities of data, like a large online store.
The Professional Plan has a 4-core CPU, 8 GB of RAM, 1000 GB of storage, 10 TB of bandwidth, and four IP addresses.
The Enterprise Plan has the same number of cores as the Professional Plan. However, it has 16 GB of RAM, 1000 GB of disk space, 15 TB of RAM, and five IP addresses.
You’ll find that what makes iPage unique in its offering is the addition of IP addresses. The addition of dedicated IPs will enable website owners to access their websites while the DNS is down.
If you rely on an off-site system that needs access to customer data, dedicated IP addresses can be handy. Other web hosting providers (and iPage’s weaker plans) involve shared IP addresses.
iPage Website Building (Pricing and Plans)
We’ve mentioned that among website builders, iPage has one of the better offerings. iPage enables you to build your first six websites for free. The free plan includes these features:
- Up to six sites for free
- Over 550 thousand images for use on your site templates
- Numerous available page layouts
- SEO tools
The other two website builder plans look like this:
- The Business Plan: $6.99 /mo
- The eCommerce Plan: $12.99 /mo
Each plan enables the user to pay from one month to three years. There is no discount for buying in bulk.
The Website Builder Business Plan gives you unlimited pages for your site. You can also receive a revision history for your pages if you go back to previous sources. You also receive analytics integration for your site under this plan.
As you might expect, the eCommerce Plan is most suitable for users who want to start an online store. It includes inventory management, PayPal integration, and the ability to offer coupons and promotions.
Optional Tools
iPage also has the following integration tools you can buy from their site:
- Google Workspace: $6 /mo.
- Microsoft 365 Email Essentials: $1.99 /mo per user
- 365 Business Plus: $4.99 /mo per user
- 365 Business Pro: $9.99 /mo per user
- Professional web design and marketing services
The Google Workspace feature through iPage enables you to integrate your control panel with iPage’s hosting service. It comes with all standard Google platforms like Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Meet, and control of all users. It comes with 30 GB of storage.
The support for Microsoft 365 feels a bit odd given iPage’s lack of support for Windows Servers. Still, their email plan comes in three varieties.
The Essentials Plan for 365 through iPage has a business-class email and calendar. It also includes 15 GB of storage.
The Business Plus plan includes 50 GB of storage, access to Microsoft Office Online, 1 TB of OneDrive storage, and private social networking portals (Microsoft Teams)
The Business Pro Plan adds desktop, tablet, and smartphone apps for the line of Microsoft Office Products. It also enables automatic syncing across all devices, a scheduling platform, and MileIQ for tracking business millage.
For website owners who do not want to handle being a website builder, you can also hire iPage’s professional services. While iPage briefly stepped out of being a full-service web hosting provider, iPage has returned to its roots.
iPage Alternatives – Other Good Web Hosts
If you don’t like what iPage offers, here are three other options:
• BlueHost gives iPage a run for its money, also sharing the $1.99 /mo pricing plan for introductory pricing. In many cases, BlueHost outperforms iPage on the cost spectrum.
BlueHost has a slightly more positive customer service experience, so it’s hard to justify iPage by comparison. However, money is going to Endurance International Group (EIG) regardless of who you choose. EIG owns both companies.
iPage’s website builder is hard to beat, making them a close comparison.
• GoDaddy offers many more options and is just as beginner-friendly. GoDaddy’s website builder is incredibly robust, and the company provides more options as a full-service web service provider.
GoDaddy also offers more flexibility regarding its shared hosting plans. However, this competing web hosting provider is more expensive as a result of its additional offerings.
• HostGator is another company owned by Endurance International Group. However, HostGator’s reputation is preserved despite EIG’s reputation as a host ruiner.
HostGator offers a website builder through BoldGrid, which is a bit less customizable. However, both control panels are easy to use. Overall, iPage provides a better design but is weaker in other important categories.
Customer Tweets – iPage Review From Users
If you’re looking for iPage customer reviews, Twitter has you covered. iPage users from all over the world come together to voice their opinions.
While typically we would take the opportunity to highlight a variety of reviews, the iPage Twitter is primarily full of negative tech experiences.
@iPage love it when business makes it easy to do business. Great service on your online chat facility today. Thanks. #greatcustomerservice #keepitsimple
— Jonathan Brake (@JonathanBrake) November 10, 2018
@iPage I chose to cancel my account with you yesterday which entails everything being deleted yesterday. So why is everything still accessible including my website! Clearly “immediate deletion” means some very different to you. Cancel my account TODAY!!!
— West Country Witch (@W_CountryWitch) July 2, 2020
@iPage – Sirs, I have paid today $85.93 for the 3 year domain and hosting of my website https://t.co/nEkLG6RdwM The website domain was with VT Design Calcutta which expired on 16 August. Can you please confirm that everything is in order. Dobrivoje
— dobri65bob (@dobri65bob1) August 31, 2021
@iPage you’ve taken $200 from my credit card even though auto renew was turned off.
— Slippery When Wet (@offender_repeat) August 24, 2021
This account is dead. Please contact me asap
Don’t use #Ipage as I’ve been trying to make updates to my Web page for months and it still doesn’t work. I’ve spoken to a number of advisors and all didn’t help. Why I’m I paying for such a bad service and should be refunded in full. They say engineers are working on it ! 💩
— Ray Fowle (@raymondfowle) August 8, 2021
@iPage do you see that . You invalid the code the other day . Your service didn’t work. And in the whole time of you taking money. The other day was the only day you @COCOVIBEZRADIO1 because you know you mess up the code and the code was fine . You will be #sue pic.twitter.com/2t8gW12iYl
— COCOVIBEZRADIO.COM (@COCOVIBEZRADIO1) September 25, 2020
@Ipage @googlesuite both have terrible customer support. My email went down a week ago and Ipage says “ask google” google says ask Ipage. They both work together but cannot help anyone with email issues @realDonaldTrump @foxandfriends
— Kirk Haynes (@C_KTECH) October 29, 2019
Do not use @iPage. They will take down your website without a proper warning and RUIN the traffic.
— Luke (@lukematthws) September 3, 2021
Cannot believe I was not properly notified.
iPage FAQs
Does iPage Include WordPress?
Yes, iPage includes the WordPress Business Plan. This means you can install any plugins or themes you need without restrictions.
Any additional plugins or themes that you would typically need to pay for still cost money.
Does iPage Use cPanel?
iPage’s shared hosting plans do not have support for cPanel.
Instead, their cPanel plans are limited to VPS hosting plans and dedicated hosting plans.
What is included in iPage Hosting’s customer support?
iPage Hosting’s customer support includes 24/7 technical assistance from a team of experts. The company also offers a comprehensive knowledge base and user guides to help customers resolve common problems on their own. Additionally, iPage Hosting provides a range of resources for new website owners, including tutorials, videos, and an active community forum.
Does iPage Hosting offer unlimited storage and bandwidth?
iPage Hosting does offer unlimited storage and bandwidth on some of its hosting plans, but it’s important to note that there are certain usage restrictions in place to prevent abuse of the system. It’s always best to check the terms of service for a specific hosting plan to determine the limitations of unlimited storage and bandwidth.
Final Thoughts
Can we recommend iPage? In short, no.
First, unlimited disk space and databases give this website great potential for eCommerce stores. If you want to start an online store on iPage, there’s potential for a relatively low upfront investment.
You’ll likely compromise on security and site speed. This means your online store will lack sales due to abandonment issues.
If you’re lucky, you’ll get someone competent from their support team. However, Trustpilot shows that the user experience isn’t always great.
If you’re looking for an incredibly cheap hosting provider and know your stuff, iPage might be a good fit for you. But if you expect robust security and hosting features, you’re better off looking elsewhere.
